The tire is attached to the teraflex hinge so no stress is on the door.. think of it like a swing out tire carrier with a door skin on the back. The door no longer takes any stress,, its just a backing for the carrier. The hinge is then attached to the tub of the jeep at a already reinforced point.

You guys are correct. The door now is essentially bolted to the tire carrier/HD hinge. Before with the stock hinges the hinges are too flimsy and actually pull against the door as the hinges flex. The door skin then flexes and pops the spot welds. With the HD carrier you are taking the flex out of the door skin because the new hinges are so sturdy.

Not to threadjack but figured since Teraflex was here and people who have them might be answering this was as good a place as any.

How do these hold up in NorthEast winters? I'm looking at purchasing a new Jeep soon and plan on adding this carrier. I've had aftermarket powdercoated items in the past that did not hold up well. Is it basically rust free or should i plan on the cost of having it painted (hopefully factory color)?

What this guy said. That being said we all like a good looking part. Before I came to Teraflex I had a shop in PA and quiet a few of my customers ran them and still don't have any problems with the finish.

So, in theory, you should be able to run the Teraflex carrier without a tailgate at all. I would see this as possible if the tire mount bolted entirely to the TeraFlex hinge, but the mount still attaches to the tailgate on the driver side. My assumption is that it takes "enough" of the stress off the tailgate, but not all of it.

That said, if I were to run a spare I would use this setup. It seems that there are few to no issues with the tailgate after proper installation and it is a very clean/good looking setup.

Not to threadjack but figured since Teraflex was here and people who have them might be answering this was as good a place as any.

How do these hold up in NorthEast winters? I'm looking at purchasing a new Jeep soon and plan on adding this carrier. I've had aftermarket powdercoated items in the past that did not hold up well. Is it basically rust free or should i plan on the cost of having it painted (hopefully factory color)?

Well I threw mine on last year, and my Rig was caught in the Sandy storm surge. Drowned in 4-5 feet of salt water. She was totaled, but I took off as many of the upgrades that I could. One of them was the hinge. I'm throwing it on my new 2012 rig this week (just waiting for a few more parts for my lift). I pulled it out of the garage yesterday and cleaned it up. It looks pretty much new. I had to throw some WD40 into the hinge but they loosened up almost immediately.

Well I threw mine on last year, and my Rig was caught in the Sandy storm surge. Drowned in 4-5 feet of salt water. She was totaled, but I took off as many of the upgrades that I could. One of them was the hinge. I'm throwing it on my new 2012 rig this week (just waiting for a few more parts for my lift). I pulled it out of the garage yesterday and cleaned it up. It looks pretty much new. I had to throw some WD40 into the hinge but they loosened up almost immediately.